'Anxiety' over Askou's future grows

It's a strange situation where we are doing so well but there is an anxiety looming over us.

I have always said no one is truly irreplaceable at the club, but Jens Berthel Askou is making me think otherwise. With every week that passes I grow more concerned about who will be at the wheel next season.

The noise around the manager's future - specifically a move to Celtic - continues to get louder. However, I think it would be a dangerous gamble for him to jump ship too soon.

The pressure and expectation at Motherwell and Celtic are entirely different. A good season for us includes reaching the quarter-finals of both cups and finishing top six in the league, whereas at Celtic even a draw is seen as a disaster.

With European football looking likely, I hope that will keep help Askou in Lanarkshire, although the prospect of joining Celtic would be a head-turner for most managers.

The Askou effect at Motherwell is shown by the rise in attendances and we remain in the title conversation after beating Dundee United last weekend while the Old Firm dropped points in a derby draw.

While it is great to be in the title mix, realistically it is a push to finish third now for us.

Motherwell put out the call for fans to return home and with a crowd of over 7,000 it's safe to say we listened.

I can only think of a handful of games at Fir Park where that many home fans were in attendance and almost all of them have been this season.